Critics Review:
The crime-thriller space on OTT is perhaps the most crowded genre today. Every other week, there is a killer on the loose, a troubled cop chasing demons, a dysfunctional family hiding secrets, and a city carrying scars of its own. The challenge, therefore, is no longer about creating a murder mystery. It is about creating one that feels different.
Brown manages to do that, but only partially.
Directed by Abhinay Deo and adapted from the novel City of Death, the series stars Karisma Kapoor, Surya Sharma, Jisshu Sengupta, Soni Razdan, Helen, Paresh Pahuja, and Ajinkya Deo in pivotal roles. Set against a hauntingly beautiful Kolkata, the series follows Rita Brown, a homicide officer carrying more emotional baggage than the files on her desk. The result is a show that is visually striking, emotionally layered, occasionally gripping, but not always convincing.
Karisma Kapoor’s Finest Performance in Years
Let’s begin with what unquestionably works: Karisma Kapoor.
For an actress who spent decades being remembered for glamour, songs, and mainstream commercial cinema, Brown allows her to completely reinvent herself. Rita Brown is broken, exhausted, guilt-ridden, emotionally distant, and often difficult to like. Yet Karisma makes you understand her. There is no attempt to make the character heroic. There is no effort to soften her flaws.
She drinks and smokes too much, carries unresolved trauma, struggles with grief, and frequently appears as though she is carrying the weight of multiple lives on her shoulders. Karisma embraces all of it with remarkable restraint. The performance never screams for attention. It quietly earns it. In many ways, Rita Brown feels like the anti-thesis of the characters that defined Karisma’s earlier career, and perhaps that is precisely why it works so well.
Kolkata Becomes a Character of Its Own
One of the strongest aspects of Brown is its atmosphere. Kolkata is not merely a backdrop. It breathes through the narrative. The rain-soaked streets, aging buildings, dimly lit corners, narrow lanes, tram housings, and constant sense of decay create a world that feels perfect for a neo-noir thriller. The cinematography deserves applause. Every frame feels drenched in unease.
The colour palette, production design, and background score work together to create an environment where danger seems to exist even in silence. There are moments when the atmosphere becomes more compelling than the actual investigation itself. And that is both a compliment and a criticism.
Strong Characters Carry the Narrative
The series benefits greatly from its supporting cast.
Surya Sharma delivers a sincere performance and forms an effective partnership with Karisma Kapoor. Their dynamic brings much-needed balance to the story. Similarly, Jisshu Sengupta, Soni Razdan, and Ajinkya Deo contribute significantly to the emotional texture of the show. What Brown often does better than many thrillers is its exploration of relationships. The mother-daughter banter, fractured family dynamics, emotional dependencies, and lingering guilt make the characters feel human even when the plot occasionally falters.
A Thriller That Slowly Becomes Predictable
And this is where the cracks begin to appear. While the opening episodes are engaging, the mystery gradually loses momentum. Several investigative breakthroughs feel too convenient, certain leads are accepted without enough scrutiny, and a few subplots divert attention from the central narrative. The problem is not that the story moves slowly. The problem is that the slow burn does not always lead to a satisfying payoff.
For a series built around murder, guilt, trauma, and psychological darkness, the revelations feel surprisingly familiar. Viewers who regularly consume crime dramas may identify key twists much earlier than intended. The procedural aspects, too, occasionally stretch credibility. At times, it feels as though the series is more interested in maintaining its mood than strengthening its investigation.
The Familiar Problem of the Troubled Cop
There is another issue that Brown struggles to overcome. The “damaged detective” trope. A grieving cop battling addiction while solving a disturbing crime has become one of the most frequently used templates in modern crime storytelling. While Karisma’s performance elevates the material, the writing does little to reinvent the trope itself. Rita Brown remains compelling because of the actor portraying her. Not necessarily because the character is written differently from similar protagonists we have seen before.
Style Often Wins Over Substance
Perhaps the most accurate way to describe Brown is that it is a series filled with excellent ingredients but an uneven recipe. The performances are memorable. The atmosphere is exceptional. The city is beautifully utilised. The emotional conflicts are compelling.
Yet the mystery at the centre never becomes as powerful as the world built around it. Several characters’ backstories deserved deeper exploration, while certain psychological themes are introduced but never fully unpacked. As a result, the show remains engaging throughout but falls short of becoming truly unforgettable.
Final Verdict
Brown succeeds more as a character study than as a crime thriller. It delivers one of Karisma Kapoor’s finest performances, creates an immersive neo-noir atmosphere, and gives audiences a hauntingly beautiful Kolkata to explore. However, predictable plotting, familiar genre tropes, and inconsistent writing prevent it from reaching the heights it aspires to achieve.
Still, for its performances alone, particularly Karisma Kapoor’s remarkable transformation, Brown is worth watching. Brown is like the colour itself, neither black nor white, neither brilliant nor disappointing. It exists somewhere in the middle, filled with imperfections, yet difficult to completely look away from.
Overall Rating: 3/5
By: Anushka Singhal
